The board secretary's job in Florida, explained.

By Carlos Castellano · Current as of September 6, 2026

On paper, the board secretary keeps the minutes. In practice, the secretary is the association’s record keeper, and Florida’s board-education laws quietly made that job bigger. Every certification document the statutes require ends up in the secretary’s hands. Here is what the role actually involves now.

You are the custodian of the education records

Both association types must keep proof of director education in their official records, and keeping official records is the secretary’s traditional duty. For HOAs, Section 720.3033(1)(c), Florida Statutes, requires the association to retain each director’s educational certificate for member inspection for 5 years after the director’s election. For condos, Section 718.112(2)(d)5.b. keeps the written certification and educational certificate for 7 years after election, or the duration of the director’s uninterrupted service, whichever is longer.

Read those retention rules as a job description: certificates cannot live in each director’s personal email. They have to land in the association’s records, and someone has to be able to produce them when a member asks.

Since September 2026 the Division’s rules say it outright. Under Rule 61B-19.004(6)(b) for HOAs and Rule 61B-19.001(6)(b) for condominiums, Florida Administrative Code, the association’s secretary, or the equivalent officer, “is responsible for ensuring board member compliance with all educational requirements and maintaining education records.” If a director misses a deadline, the board must suspend that director until the requirement is met, so the secretary is the person who has to see it coming.

The condo written certification comes to you by name

Condo directors file two things, and the statute says where: the written certification goes to the secretary of the association, together with the educational certificate. If you are a condo secretary, you are the named recipient of a statutory filing. What that document must say is covered in the condo written certification, explained, and there is a free print-and-sign form (PDF) you can hand to incoming directors.

Two separate statuses to track, not one

A mistake we see constantly: treating “certified” as the whole story. Each director actually carries two independent statuses. Certification is the multi-year credential, valid four education years for HOA and seven for condo, counting the education year the course was completed in as the first. Continuing education is the obligation due by June 30 each education year, 4 or 8 hours for HOA directors depending on association size and 1 hour for condo directors. A director can hold a perfectly valid certificate and still be behind on this year’s hours. Track both, per director, and label which one you mean in any report to the board.

The renewal calendar runs on the education year

Florida counts board education in education years, which run from July 1 to June 30. Every certificate runs out on a June 30, and every director’s continuing education is due by June 30. That makes the secretary’s calendar simpler than it used to be: one June 30 check for hours across the whole board, plus the June 30 each certificate runs through. A director whose certificate has run out files the new one by the September 29 that follows, and after that the board must suspend them until it is on file. The full reasoning is in what to do when a board certificate is about to expire.

The rest of the job comes from your documents

Minutes, meeting notices, correspondence, and the other familiar secretary work are defined by your association’s bylaws rather than by the education statutes, so check your governing documents for the exact scope. The pattern across all of it is the same: the secretary is the person who makes the association’s paper trail exist and keeps it findable.